by Shreyas S. Bhide
No amount of adjectives can be used to describe the class that this man possess. Of course talent and ability are a given, looking at the way he has played this game over the past 19 years.
Sachin Tendulkar has been the most complete batsman of his time, and arguably the biggest cricket icon as well. Tendulkar, probably the most prolific Test batsman ever, hit a ton against England at the Chepauk, Chennai to help India see triumph in a high scoring run chase. For Sachin Tendulkar, this match was a final answer to his persistent critics who have always insisted that he gets cold feet in the fourth innings. In the Chennai Test, he played not just as an anchor but also as a mentor. Holding the innings together at one end, he was also a calming influence on Yuvraj Singh.
Every time Tendulkar walks to the crease a whole nation, tatters and all, march with him to the battle arena. Tendulkar never shirks this enormous responsibility. He spends almost every waking hour seeking that perfection, practising, planning, preparing. He rings his brother, the man who knows his game best, every day, talking bowlers and bat angles and shot selection. He looks at the pitch and contemplates how he will make runs on it. He is thankful of his talent and dutifully delivers it to his public, the majority of whom have nothing. And yet the man who is the property of a billion Indians, who is escorted everywhere by a posse of policemen, who is photographed almost every second of his life, craves(and probably leads) a normal life.
Shane Warne admists Tendulkar gave him nightmares in the 1998-99 Test series. He has been a nightmare of sorts for many other international bowlers, who may not have the guts to admit it. Cover drive, Straight drive, Hip Glance, Paddle sweep ... there isn’t a single shot in Tendulkar’s array that isn’t in the book; perhaps some of them are unorthodox and out of the cricketing manual. Though he has adopted a noticeably conservative approach in the last quarter of his career, there are no apparent weaknesses in Tendulkar’s game. He can score all around the wicket, off both front foot and back, and has made runs in all parts of the world in all conditions. He is happy playing the mentor to the young Indian team under Dhoni.
This year, the master blaster has scored more than 1000 runs at an staggering average of over 80. He has smashed 4 hundreds and 4 fifties in the period with his highest being 154 in the Border Gavaskar trophy earlier this year. Tendulkar’s brilliant form and maturity levels do the team a world of good. He is a calming influence on many a minds, Harbhajan in the Sydney test, Yauvraj in the Chennai test are just a few examples. His mere presence at the other end makes his batting partner look good on crease.
Its this Tendulkar magic that needs to keep working for India to achieve he top spot in world cricket.
